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Harley-Davidson commits to electric motorcycle prolongation by 2020

Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson’s sell motorcycle sales were off sharply, according to a company’s latest quarterly gain report, though a Milwaukee motorcycle hulk is looking toward a destiny that includes an electric motorcycle.

Company Chief Executive Matt Levatich pronounced in Jan that a association is “on target” to launch a initial battery-powered motorcycle “within 18 months.”

“The EV motorcycle marketplace is in a decline today, though we trust reward Harley-Davidson electric motorcycles will assistance expostulate fad and appearance in a competition globally,” Levatich told investors in a report. “As we enhance a EV capabilities and commitment, we get even some-more vehement about a purpose electric motorcycles will play in flourishing a business.”

The news did not state either a electric bike underneath contention will be formed on a Livewire, an electric antecedent that Harley demonstrated in 2014.

But a orator pronounced after a report, “Harley-Davidson’s Livewire is an active plan that we are scheming to move to marketplace within 18 months.”

That motorcycle was a wordless rocket with wickedly quick acceleration and a depressingly brief electric range.

The Livewire was able of jetting silently from 0 to 60 miles per hour in underneath 4 seconds, a gait that seemed to stir “Easy Rider” star Peter Fonda when we organised a exam float for him after in 2014.

The new model, when completed, will have to contest with electric motorcycles and scooters already being constructed by California’s Zero Motorcycles and Alta Motors, Germany’s BMW and Italy’s Energica, among others.

Harley reported fourth-quarter distinction of $8.3 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with distinction of $47.2 million, or 27 cents, in a year-earlier quarter. Worldwide sell motorcycle sales declined 9.6 percent; in a U.S., they were down 11.1 percent.

The association blamed a shortfall in partial on taxation implications from a 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and roughly $30 million in charges associated to a product recall.